Warwick Police join in crackdown on seat belt use

The Warwick Police Department have joined local law enforcement officers and highway safety advocates in a Click It or Ticket seat belt enforcement mobilization through Sept. 29.

During the mobilization, officers ticket motorists who fail to wear their seat belts both day and night.

With proper seat belt use, research shows that the risk of fatal injury to front seat passenger car occupants is reduced by 45 percent, and the risk of moderate to serious injury is reduced by 50 percent.

According to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), seat belts saved more than 12,500 lives nationwide in 2010 alone.

Nationally in 2010, 51 percent of the 22,187 passenger vehicle occupants who were killed in motor vehicle crashes were not wearing seat belts at the time of their fatal crashes.

The national Click It Or Ticket mobilizations have increased seat belt use and saved lives, but there is still much more to do. Highly visible enforcement and greater public awareness can turn thousands of lives lost into many more lives saved.